As noted earlier, women voters played a huge role in the defeat of Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race on Tuesday, voting for Democrat Doug Jones by a 15-point margin and pushing him to victory. Black women in particular led the way, with 98 percent voting for Jones according to exit polls.
You could argue that allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore played a role in his poor showing among women, and you'd have a point. But that same phenomenon keeps popping up all over the country, and in poll after poll. For example, in the hard-fought Virginia gubernatorial race last month -- a race with no allegations of sexual impropriety -- women sided with the Democratic candidate by a 22-point margin.
But wait, it gets worse.
Two new national polls -- one by Monmouth University, the other from Suffolk University -- were released Wednesday. Here's what job approval numbers look like for Donald Trump among women voters:
Whoa. Both polls report a gap of more than 40 points among women voters. I don't think I've ever seen a gender gap that large in national polling for any major political figure, and if you're a Republican political consultant, you look at those numbers and you are at least thankful that Trump won't be on the ballot in next year's midterms.
But then there's this:
The antipathy of women voters apparently extends beyond Trump to the Republican Party as a whole. According to Suffolk, just 21 percent of women voters approve of the GOP while 64 percent disapprove, a 43-point differential. The Democratic Party, on the other hand, has a generally positive image among women.
As to what that might mean at the ballot box, we turn to the new Monmouth numbers for guidance. Their pollsters asked the so-called generic ballot question: "If the election for U.S. Congress was held today, would you vote for the Republican or the Democratic candidate in your district?"
Here's how women voters responded:
Sixty-two percent of women said they would vote for a generic Democrat over a Republican. Just 27 percent report they would vote for a generic Republican. That's a 35-point margin in favor of the Democrats.
You already get the sense that Republicans in Washington know that they're in deep trouble, that they're trying to get as much done as possible, as quickly as possible, before having to face the voters on Nov. 6, 2018. They also have to recognize by now that Trump is going to be Trump, and that another 11 months with a misogynist in the White House can only drive these numbers lower.
Short of repealing the 19th Amendment, though, I'm not sure there's a lot they can do to fend off the wave headed in their direction.
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